Reading Freud’s “the Dynamics of Transference” one Hundred Years Later

Abstract

Freud’s technical papers, “The Dynamics of Transference” in particular, established most of the basis for a century of clinical psychoanalytic work. A contemporary reading of that paper illustrates both the power of the original presentation and how far we have come. Close readings are given of crucial passages, including retranslations where Strachey’s English arguably distorts Freud’s language or intent. More broadly, Freud’s conclusions are examined to reveal correspondences with current thinking or its foreshadowing. Although Freud drove toward unifying conclusions, he at the same time described a disparate array of clinical phenomena. The paper’s central points are situated historically, both in Freud’s evolution and in the subsequent evolution toward the pluralistic clinical theory of today. Freud encountered many of the challenges we face, noting them in ways both clinically useful and fruitful for other theorists. The use of the paper’s central tenets is traced historically, showing how ideas that provide a radical, liberating, and facilitating guide for analysts can over time devolve into hackneyed rules. Finally, it is noted how transference phenomena are increasingly being discussed as a specific type of dyadic human experience. The task in the coming century is to develop theory and vocabulary for comprehending these phenomena and integrating them with Freud’s intrapsychic concepts.